The Knight and the Blacksmith
by SkyDragonKing
Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW FEEDBACK WANTED!
1. Prologue

Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Humor

Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.

Rating: T for now at least

* * *

><p>Prologue:<p>

"What do you mean you're leaving?" a shout came from the humble home of the blacksmith.

"Just that Lisa, I'm going to go away for a while." Said the female knight of the Guards of Housman, Cecily Cambell. The redheaded knight explained herself further.

"This is a very special opportunity I have in front of me. I was requested by Commander Hannibal to train at the Guard Sanctuary." The others in the room stopped. Lisa, the little demon girl jumped from her seat, Aria the maiden that carried the power of a demon sword looked at Cecily in awe, while Luke, the blacksmith himself just froze entirely.

The Guard Sanctuary is a highly respected training ground for all knights. Some of the world's legendary warriors have emerged from that site. Including…

"It's the place where my father learned to fight. I know the road ahead of me is rough but I can't turn this down. This is my chance to truly follow in my father's footsteps, you all have to understand." Cecily further explained herself.

"I understand…" Luke spoke up, getting the others' attention. "I understand that you don't know what you're getting yourself into as usual." He said while he remained seated with arms crossed in his usual manner.

"Geez Luke, that sure is supportive of you!" Cecily snapped back at him.

"Yeah Luke honestly, this is clearly an important matter for Cecily, and all you can say is something rude as usual." Aria said in Cecily's defense.

"Hmph, you didn't let me finish." Luke protested the assault the two women.

"Well then go on! Jerk." Cecily commanded him, her eyes firing up as they always did when Luke made a rude remark about her.

"Well I was going to say, before I was interrupted, was that I wanted wish you luck, because you sure are going to need it, a lot of it actually." He said turning away from his company and gazed out the window. By then Cecily was boiling.

"What's that supposed to mean!" She yelled making the house around them shake. That and her slamming her hands on the table as hard as she could.

"Sheesh, do you have to be so loud, I think you scared the birds away." He said looking on at the few birds that were before resting on a tree outside but flew away perhaps in response to Cecily's outburst.

"Wait, Cecily, when do you leave, at least give us the chance to send you off." Lisa said. Cecily looked over at the little demon girl and her mood changed instantly.

"Tomorrow night, I want to pack and have everything in order when I leave." She said smiling. It was offsetting how fast her mood changed.

"Well until then, Lisa come on, we need to finish that order for the mayor." Luke said getting up to leave the house and go to the forge.

"Right." The little demon nodded and headed out after him leaving Cecily and Aria behind.

"That…that jerk! Why does he always have to be like that?" Cecily complained once Luke was out of hearing range.

"Well you know Luke is…awkward." Aria reminded her friend. "And besides he _did_ wish you good luck." Cecily looked at her with a furrowed brow still a bit angry at Luke's behavior.

_It's so funny how much Luke gets her riled up._ The demon sword thought to herself.

"I guess you're right…" she said sighing, "Whatever, I need to get packing." With that the lady knight left the blacksmith's house and returned to her manor, to prepare for her journey.

* * *

><p>The next night came around awfully fast and Cecily was just about ready to leave. She was to go to her guild in town and from there Hannibal would escort her to the Guard Sanctuary.<p>

"Are you sure you have to go Cecily?" Lisa asked hoping her friend would stay home. Cecily patted her little friend on the head.

"I don't have to go, I want to, but don't worry it's not like I'm leaving for good ill be back before you know it." She assured Lisa

Most of the crew was there. Cecily, Lisa, Lucy (Cecily's mother), and Flo the maid of the Cambells. All except one was there seeing Cecily off, Luke.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you to the Guard Sanctuary Cecily?" Aria asked since she was Cecily's most used weapon, the demon sword of wind.

Cecily shook her head and replied.

"I'm sure Aria, this is something I need to do on my own, Commander Hannibal and the Mayor said they will look after you while I'm away. Speaking of things I need to do, I'm gonna punch that jerk Luke for not showing up!" she said cracking her knuckles.

"Well Luke did say he needed to finish that order, it's paying a lot of money." Lisa said trying to defend Luke, but that only made Cecily grow angrier.

"Figures that insensitive jerk is more worried about money than friends." She grumbled. She then took a deep breath and turned to the others.

"How long will you be away miss?" Flo asked. It took some time for Cecily to answer as she thought about it.

"Well, judging from what Hannibal said, I should be away for half a year." When she said that everyone else looked a little discouraged. Not seeing someone they cared for deeply for that long was a real downer.

"Well I'm all set, I guess this is so long." She then walked up to her mother.

"I don't know why you're going at all Cecily, you're almost guaranteeing life as a single woman…" Cecily began to get irritated again. "…But I know how much this means to you, and how proud your father would be if he saw you now." Cecily's face lightened in expression at her mother's words.

"Thanks mom." That was all she said before they engaged in a tight hug. She said her goodbyes to everyone and was on her way.

* * *

><p>About ten minutes after she left her home she was getting close to town and to her guild.<p>

"I wonder if it is good idea leaving Aria behind. After all she did save my sorry-" Wham! Before she could finish her sentence she bumped into someone else…hard.

"I though I might catch you here dork!" a familiar voice shouted at Cecily. When she looked up at who it was she was a little more than surprised.

"Luke! I thought you had business to attend to!" she sneered at him for not being with the others earlier.

"I still do. I left so I can catch you." Cecily was shocked at that statement.

"Y-y-you…what?"

"What are you doing in the city anyway, I thought you were going to the Guard Sanctuary?" Cecily shook her head to snap out of the shock Luke put her into.

"I am, but I need to go to the guild so Hannibal can guide me there."

"Oh, I see. I guess I'll take you to the guild since you seem to need some assistance getting anywhere." That backhanded comment got Cecily riled up again.

"What did you say?" she shouted, both fists clenched.

"Whatever, are you coming or not?" Luke asked already walking. Cecily scampered after him until they were walking side by side.

"Tell me Cecily, why are you really going to the Guard Sanctuary? Not what you said yesterday, but the real reason." Cecily's eyes widened at the question. Luke saw right through her with his lone eye.

"I think you know already Luke." She said, as they got closer to the guild.

"No tell me, don't keep it inside." Luke said. Cecily took a deep breath.

"The reason I'm going to the Guard Sanctuary is, well…for what seems like forever I had other people protect me while I keep going on about defending others. You've saved me more times than I can remember. It's about time that I save myself!" she proclaimed. The desire burned in her eyes as she explained herself to Luke who could easily see it in her.

"That's all I wanted to know. I'll see you when you get back then." They stopped and looked in each other's eyes for a second before Luke turned around and left for home.

"Bye…Luke." Cecily muttered as she watched him walk away.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later she finally arrived at her guild where Hannibal was waiting.<p>

"Ah, there you are Cambell, are you ready to go?" Cecily looked up at her commander with her usual determination.

"I'm ready."


	2. Part 1: Six Months Later

Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Humor

Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.

Rating: T for now at least

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><p>Part 1: Six Months Later<p>

(Note: I consider some time has passed disregarding the fic so the characters are a little older than previously stated in the manga/anime.)

It was another quiet day just outside of Housman. Things have been unusually quiet since Cecily left for the Guard Sanctuary. Those she left behind have had to adapt to life without her; however, things were a bit more peaceful without the clumsy knight running around.

At the blacksmith, Luke Ainsworth's residence, things were carrying out as they normally did. Breakfast had just been served and Lisa was cleaning up, while Luke was working the day away in the forge. Things were mostly going as they did every day, with Cecily or without. That was, until there was a knock at the door.

"Hm, I wonder who that could be, we don't have any orders due? It could be a new client!" Lisa said to herself, hopping down from the sink and shuffling towards the door.

"Oh hi Aria, you know you don't have to knock to come in." Lisa greeted her friend with an ear-to-ear smile.

"I know, but I figured it would be more appropriate." Aria explained. Lisa tilted her head in curiosity.

"Appropriate for what Aria?" The demon sword smiled.

"For the surprise." She said stepping to the side to reveal…

"CECILY!" Lisa shouted and lunged for the lady knight and hugged her as hard as she could.

"Hey, Lisa haven't seen you in a while, did you get taller?" Lisa tilted her head up and nodded.

"Did your boobs get bigger Cecily?"

"I've been gone for six months and that's what you say!" Cecily yelled, her face red in embarrassment. Lisa let go of Cecily and took a step back to get a better look at her. Cecily's hair had grown a little longer in length. She tacked on some muscle while she was away, making her legs and arms thicker. Cecily had a more voluptuous shape.

"Wow Cecily you have abs now?" Lisa pointed out as she looked for changes in her friend. Cecily did develop toned abdominal muscles during her training. And as Lisa pointed out, her breasts did get somewhat bigger.

"When did you get back?" Lisa asked.

"Earlier this morning, I dropped by the guild to pick up Aria and headed here." Cecily replied when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Oh… you're back." The one standing behind her said in between breaths. Cecily turned to face him.

"Luke…" She gasped as she looked on at him. "You look different." She said as she noticed the biggest change in Luke, his hair. He still wore it long but not nearly as long as he once did. It was wild looking, as if he self-cut it, as it trailed down to the nape of his neck.

"So do you." He said in reply as he noticed the changes in her. They stared at each other for about a minute until Luke began walking towards her and his house behind her. She held her hands up expecting a hug or some sort of greeting from Luke as he approached her. Luke hopped up the stairs and looked over at Cecily.

"Um, what are you doing?" He asked, oblivious to her action. She turned a shade of red again and awkwardly threw her hands behind her head.

"N-nothing, don't worry about it." She readjusted herself and continued. "By the way Luke, I wrote letters to everyone and got replies to them all besides the one I gave you. Care to explain?" she asked with some agitation in her voice. Luke meanwhile was getting himself a glass of water.

"…I was busy…" He said in between sips.

"Too busy to read a letter?" She asked with a raised brow.

"Oh no, I read it, and by the way, your grammar needs work." He remarked, heading back outside to his forge. By then he had Cecily fuming.

"You…. You..!" she yelled shaking her fists, ready to explode. Luke walked up to her and turned.

"Welcome back Cecily." He said quietly with a soft smile, and walked away. That smile of his left stopped the raging Cecily dead in her tracks. She stood for a minute to try and figure out what just happened. Luke seemed so awkward to her, but she liked him for it.

"Um, Cecily…" Lisa spoke, snapping Cecily out of her trance. The lady knight turned to Lisa. "If it makes up for anything, Luke meant it when he said he was 'busy'."

"What do you mean Lisa?" Cecily became ever so curious to find out what kept Luke so occupied that he couldn't respond to her letter.

"Well he went away too, he was gone for a while."

"What do you mean he was 'gone'?" Cecily asked again as Lisa continued.

"After you left, he finished the order the Mayor asked him for and left. I don't know where he went but he said it was 'very important' that he go, and that I had to 'run things' here."

"I say you inspired him to get training done Cecily. I don't know if you noticed but he does seem a little more built than he was before." Aria inquired. Cecily had to think for a few seconds.

"So when did he get back here?"

"Well about a week ago. He came back a filthy mess, so I think you're right about what he was doing Aria. He said he 'figured something out' and went right to work in the forge, and has spent most of his time in there ever since. I have no clue what he's working on, he won't even let me in there." Lisa explained everything she knew.

"Well I'm gonna find out right now!" Cecily said, marching out of the house and towards Luke's forge.

"That's not such a good idea, Luke hates being interrupted from work." Lisa remarked as Aria giggled.

Cecily slammed the door to the forge open shocking Luke who just picked a cup of melted metal out of the oven, and causing him to drop it.

"Look what you made me do you dork!" Luke shouted at Cecily who stood in awe at the countless Katana blades lying around the forge.

"Um, I um…" she couldn't get any words out at all but Luke sure could.

"Argh, get out!" he said throwing the clamp he used to pick the cup up out of the oven at her. She squealed and shut the door just in time avoiding the hit. She slumped down to the ground with her back against the door and heard Luke mutter some profanities on the other side.

"What was that just now? All those blades lying around…wait, 'figured something out'…he didn't figure out how to make a 'sacred sword' did he?" She looked down and pondered the possibilities. She got up after a minute and headed back towards the house rejoining Lisa and Aria.

"Well did you find anything out?" Aria asked.

"I think Luke figured out how to make a sacred sword, or at least he's real close to it, there were blades every where." That instantly caught the attention of the other two in the room.

"You, really think so Cecily?" Lisa asked in wonder. To think Luke discovered the secret behind a sacred sword.

"Well it's the only thing I could come up with." Cecily said shrugging her shoulders. "Anyways, Aria are you ready to go?"

"Yep, let's go." The demon sword got up and they were on their way.

* * *

><p>The duo of Cecily and Aria were quickly approaching the Cambell house, making their way through town.<p>

"By the way, didn't you like what he did with his hair, he looks more dangerous." Aria said as she discussed the blacksmith they had just left.

"Do we still have to keep talking about that jerk Aria?" Cecily protested as they walked right past the market.

"Oh wait a minute, Cecily, your birthday's coming up right?" Cecily nodded.

"Yep on the twenty first I'll finally be eighteen." That got Aria thinking.

"So that would make you a legal adult then Ms. Cambell. So you should do certain 'adult' things to celebrate." Cecily needed to think about it for a second and kept getting images of a certain blacksmith in her head.

"ARIA!" she yelled again in protest, making the demon sword laugh. "It's not funny!"

"Yes it is. You act all juvenile whenever I bring up your love life, and it's funny every time."

"Am I really that immature?" Cecily asked with her eyes narrowed towards Aria.

"No, just when it comes to this. Good think you have Luke who's just as screwed up as you."

"I don't have him!" she yelled her face getting red, and as usual she ran away yelling, heading home as fast as she could.

"Hey wait up Cecily, we need to plan out your wedding!" she called out after her as she scurried on.

* * *

><p>Next up, Cecily's birthday, what surprises is she in for?<p>

Please read and review feedback wanted.


	3. Part 2:Birthday Wishes

Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Humor

Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.

Rating: T for now at least

* * *

><p>Part 2: Birthday Wishes<p>

Cecily awoke in her room; a week has past by, the date, the twenty first of November, her birthday. Her eighteenth birthday more specifically, but she woke up with an unusual normalcy. Typically her birthdays had a different feel to them than other days of the year. But when she hopped out of bed there was no special feeling, there was nothing.

"Guess mom was right about getting older. 'Birthdays seem to matter less and less to you'." She recited the words her mother, Lucy had told her a few days earlier.

"I wonder what time it is, Aria's already up?" she rubbed her eyes and walked over to her bedroom window. Cecily took a quick glance over at the clock on the opposite wall, 9:37 am. She looked around at the sun-drenched valley that rested beyond Housman in the distance, and then looked down to see something really out of the ordinary.

"What on Earth is Luke doing here so early!" she squealed, covering her mouth. She didn't realize the loudness of her little outburst until Luke and Aria looked up at her window.

"Eek!" Cecily squealed again shutting the curtains. From outside Luke and Aria heard a loud thud come from Cecily's room and her moan in pain shortly afterwards.

"Sheesh, for a _noble knight_, she sure is a klutz." Luke remarked while placing a long box covered in wrapping paper against the tree, which stood adjacent to Cecily's house.

"Well it wouldn't be a day for Cecily if she didn't trip over herself." Aria added.

Back in Cecily's room, the lady knight picked herself up off the ground after tripping over a chair and landing in her piled up armor.

"Nice one Cecily, I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard that one." She said to herself. She dusted herself off and proceeded to get dressed and her usual morning routines. However, she would not practice her swordsmanship today on account of it being her birthday and all. Plus she felt a little embarrassed after the loud trip she just had to go down to Luke, who always had something to say.

Clad in her day dress she walked downstairs and into the dining room to see her mother finishing up breakfast.

"Oh you're finally up Cecily!" Lucy got up from her seat and went over to give a hug to her daughter.

"Happy birthday Cessy." She said softly, using the name she called her daughter years ago when she was little, as Cecily hugged her back.

"Thanks mom." They broke away from each other and Lucy returned to her seat.

"So, Cecily dear, how does it feel to be another year older?" she asked, while Cecily sat herself down in the seat next to her.

"It feels like nothing, I guess you were right about what you said the other day."

"Well you know a mother's always right." Flo had just walked in upon hearing Cecily enter the dining room.

"Look who's finally up, you know Cecily you sleep like a rock now since you've come back." Cecily chuckled in response.

"Guess it's just a habit I picked u-"

"Hang on, Cecily, aren't Aria and that blacksmith waiting outside for you?" her mother interrupted.

"Oh shoot, gotta go!" Cecily quickly got up knocking her chair down behind her and ran out the room.

She scurried through her house finally making it to the backyard where Luke and Aria had been waiting.

"About time you got out here. Is that any way to treat company?" Luke said in his usual arrogant manner.

"H-" Cecily was about to give Luke a piece of her mind when Aria cut her off.

"Well she's up now. By the way isn't there something you wanted to give our birthday girl Luke?" Luke's face grew a little red for quick second before he shook it off.

"Uh, yea there is…thanks Aria," he mumbled, walking to the tree where he had put the box from earlier.

"I'm going to go inside, I haven't had breakfast yet." Said Aria, leaving Cecily and Luke alone. A nervous Cecily spoke.

"Um, what is she talking about Luke?" she asked, her voice shaking from whatever thoughts crept up in her mind.

"It's nothing like that dork! Don't flatter yourself." Luke shouted, his face getting red again.

"Well what is it Luke?" She asked, getting more and more curious. Luke held the box out for her to take.

"Here…ha…ppy birthday, Cecily." He said feeling embarrassed for reasons unbeknownst to him.

"W…thanks Luke," she said taking the box from him. It felt surprisingly light considering the size of the box.

"You know…you can be really sweet when you want to be Luke." She said smiling, as she began to unwrap her gift.

"What is this?" she said tearing the last of the wrapping paper off.

"Um, Lisa wrapped it last night, she's still back at my house sleeping I let her have the day off." He said nervously scratching the back of his head.

_Why am I acting so weird it's only Cecily, the weirdest person I've ever met_. He thought to himself when he looked back at her, seeing her smile. He felt even more anxious.

He walked next her, holding the cover on the box shut.

"Wha-"

"I want to say something before you open this…" Luke said looking at Cecily.

"…" She was silent, so Luke can speak.

"When you came into the forge the day you got back and saw me working, it was this I was working on. It's not a sacred sword but it's the best I've made so far. And after all the time we've known each other, everything we've been through, I think you've earned this…" he said, placing his hand over hers and opened the box to reveal a katana in its sheath.

"Oh my god, Luke…I don't know what to say…"

"You don't have to say anything yet." She looked at him confused.

"What..." she stopped when she noticed something stopping her from pulling the sword out from its sheath.

"You chained it!" she yelled, making the windows of the house shake. Luke had wrapped a chain around the katana locking it shut with a pad lock.

"Do you have to yell?" Luke shouted holding his ears shut.

"What the heck is this?" she held the chained up sword to his face. He pushed it back at her.

"I said you can have it but I didn't say you could use it yet!"

"WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN!" she yelled again, fuming with frustration.

* * *

><p>"Looks like they're at it again." Aria said sitting in the dining room with Lucy and Flo.<p>

"They're going to be so good together." Flo added.

"And here I thought Cecily would never find a man." Lucy said thanking her lucky stars her tomboy daughter has a chance at love.

"I better get out there before it gets really bad." Aria got up and headed outside.

* * *

><p>"A katana is different from other swords, so it requires a different skill set to use it. I figured a dork like you, who's been obsessing over one for God knows how long would know that!" he yelled in protest.<p>

"Stop calling me a dork, you jerk!" she said as she shoved him by his shoulder.

"I just call them as I see them, dork!" he shouted pushing her back.

"JERK!"

"DORK!"

"Jerk…"

"Well it takes one to know one!"

"You son of a…" Cecily said through grinding teeth, her face getting red in anger.

"Okay, everyone calm down, relax. Deep breaths." Aria came in at just the right time.

"What on earth are you two yelling about?" Aria asked as she stood in between Luke and Cecily, the latter looking like she was going to bite Luke's head off, while he returned to the cool and collective disposition.

"This, honestly what kind of inconsiderate jerk does this!" Cecily shouted her face still red, as she held the chained up sword in Aria's face.

"A padlock? You really must not want her to use it yet don't you Luke?" Aria asked in a nonchalant manner.

"Wait, Aria you know about this!" Cecily shouted again, this time her voice squeaking towards the end.

"Well what do you think we were doing while we waited for you to come down silly?" Aria said with a smile on her face.

"Are you mocking me?" Cecily grumbled giving Aria the death stare, she really wasn't in the mood.

"It took you long enough to catch on." Luke retorted, crossing his arms and turning away.

"Aria, hold me back!" Cecily barked as Aria tried her best to restrain the lady knight.

"Relax, just read the card in there and you'll understand. Don't get so bent out of shape, dork." Luke said as he walked away from the other two.

"I'm not a dork!" she yelled out to him, as Luke now was on the road heading back to his home.

"Where is he going anyway?" Cecily asked.

"He has to go back to work, but he did say Lisa would come by later and give you her gift."

"You talked about all that"

"Hey, you were up in your room for a while." Aria reminded Cecily.

Cecily took a few deep breaths and finally managed to calm herself down.

"You know Luke does teases you like that on purpose." Said Aria hand on her hips, as she pointed out something that she thought was obvious.

"What…why!" Cecily shouted again, for the umpteenth time that morning.

"That's why, you get so worked up whenever someone says something about you, even if it's a compliment." Cecily knew that Aria was right. She recalled an instant when Luke said she looked 'nice' in a maid's outfit Flo gave her to wear, and she reacted by yelling and running in the opposite direction. There were even a few cases where she had actually hit Luke and ran away, of course, yelling.

"So what, that's how I am, and if he doesn't like it too bad." That statement of hers made Aria smile.

"He does like it, that's why he teases you. In his defense you _do_ look adorable when you pout your lip at his backhanded comments. And your cheeks get a pink-ish hue when you're ticked, it's so cute."

"It is not!" Cecily protested, doing exactly what Aria described, making the demon sword laugh.

"Stop laughing Aria…"

"Whatever, what does he mean by card?" Cecily asked and just then, as if on cue, a small, folded card dropped out of the box the katana was in.

"Huh" Cecily looked down to see the card had her name written on it in beautiful calligraphy.

"I guess this is the card Luke was talking about." She examined the front of it closely.

"I never knew he had such nice hand writing, it's nicer than yours." Aria inquired. Cecily growled at Aria for that comment.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Cecily said as she flipped the card over to read it, and get her answer as to why Luke had locked up her new katana.

* * *

><p><em>Dear dork,<em>

_ You probably noticed by now that the katana is chained up to its sheath and is locked up tight. If you haven't either you're really slow, or you just haven't looked yet, but my money is on the first one. Come by my house early tomorrow morning and I'll explain further on how to unlock your katana, as I don't have a lot of room here. I'm sure Lisa will drop by later, I have work to do so I can't go. Anyways, happy birthday Cecily._

_ -Luke_

* * *

><p>"I guess I have to swing by his place tomorrow if I want to unlock the sword, but why tell me in a note?"<p>

"Well Luke is one awkward boy after all."

"That's most certainly true. Well let's head back inside, I still haven't had breakfast yet." With that the two women went inside.

* * *

><p>Lisa arrived a couple of hours later and the three of them went out to eat lunch. Later that night, back at Cecily's house, her mother and Flo had prepared a cake for her. It was chocolate and it tasted delicious. The rest of her birthday was happy, fun and peaceful, but there was the next day.<p>

* * *

><p>Cecily woke up the next day before sunrise. She prepared for her workday, in armor and all left for Luke's.<p>

"Hey Cecily wait up!" she heard from behind her. It was Aria running to catch up, and she was holding a bag of sorts.

"Hey Aria…what's with the bag?" she asked as her friend huffed and puffed after running.

"This…nothing, I just have a few errands to run. I wanted to walk you to work."

"Oh, okay, thanks, but I'm heading to Luke's house first." Aria nodded

"That's fine, I was kind of hoping you'd go there." Aria said, muttering those last few words.

"What?"

"Nothing, let's get moving." She quickly turned down the question as they made haste towards Luke's house.

* * *

><p>When they arrived all seemed quiet. The lights were off and there wasn't any smoke coming form the forge. They walked up to the front door, but right before Cecily knocked on the door she heard.<p>

"Over here you two!" Both Cecily and Aria turned to see Luke, who was standing behind them in a similar shirt Cecily wore when training only it actually covered his entire torso and had short sleeves.

"What are you doing Luke?" Cecily asked. Luke raised an eyebrow at her.

"You didn't figure it out yet…I'm training you."


	4. Part 3: And So it Begins

Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Humor

Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.

Rating: T for now at least

* * *

><p>Part 3: And so it begins<p>

"Wait, you're what!" Cecily said, trying to wrap her head around what was currently happening.

"I'm guessing you didn't tell her, did you Aria?" Luke asked, walking up to the two women who were currently standing on his porch.

"Nope, I wanted to see her reaction, it was so worth it." The demon sword chuckled while Cecily was getting impatient.

"What the heck is going on!" she shouted to get the other two to pay attention to her.

"I'm teaching you how to use a katana, what's so hard to understand?" Luke said smiling to her, in a surprisingly lighter tone than he usually uses with her.

"So I guess this is how I can unlock my katana?" Cecily said, hands on her hips. Luke simply nodded.

"Yep, just make it through the torture, err I mean training, and it's all yours. Now, are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Did you just say torture…?" Cecily couldn't get over that word. What was Luke planning? She shook it off.

"Wait ready to go where?" she asked him, as he turned to Aria.

"You really didn't tell her anything did you?" he asked Aria who again who shook her head.

"Nope." She said through a smile, while Cecily gave her the stink eye.

"To where I went after you left. It's my family's house up in the mountains." Luke finally answered Cecily's question.

"Oh, well where is it, I mean is it far?" asked Cecily.

"Well, sort of, not really. Look, see those hills off in the distance over there…" he said pointing to the small mountain range north west of his house.

"Yeah, it's there?"

"No, it's on the one past it, it's about twenty miles, but we can make it there pretty quick if we run there. We're going to be there until you master a katana which might take a while."

"Run…there…?"

"Yeah, problem?" Luke looked at her as if nothing was wrong with what he just said.

"I don't have anything packed, and I can't just take off from work again!" she complained, trying to get out of it the best she could, but Luke and Aria were prepared.

"Don't worry Cecily I've already packed for you, see." Said Aria, holding up the bag she was carrying. Turns out, it was loaded with Cecily's training clothes, and everything else she needed.

"And I talked with your captain, and he was all for it, God knows your skills need improving." Luke remarked, once again getting on Cecily's bad side.

"Hey, I just came from the Guard Sanctuary pal, I worked my butt off every day for six months straight!" Cecily protested, clenching her fists and stomping her feet.

"Wait, Luke, what about _your_ stuff?" Aria asked the blacksmith who had nothing but his katana and the clothes on his back.

"Everything I need is already there from last time, and I wouldn't wear that armor if I were you Cecily, it can really slow you down." Luke said. Realizing he was right Cecily grabbed one of her training outfits out of Aria's bag and headed inside to change.

"Those jerks, they tricked me. Go training in the mountains with that jerk…him, of all people…" She muttered as she was inside, stripping off her armor. After getting her armor completely off she began to put on her training outfit. The same black, form fitting shirt that Luke had on, only hers was sleeve-less and only covered her chest, leaving the lower half of her torso exposed, a small brown vest, and relatively loose brown pants, ending just below her knees, while she still wore the footwear from her armor, as they were best suited for moving around. When she finished getting dressed she realized something worth noting.

"Oh my god, it's just going to be…me and…him…!" She said to herself, her face getting red, thinking nasty thoughts about her and Luke. She shook it off trying to focus on the main reason she's going on the trip, while putting her hair up in a ponytail.

"No Cecily, you're just going so you can use your katana…that's all." She gulped as she headed outside to rejoin the others. This was this first time Luke had seen Cecily in such revealing clothing, although he already had a good look at her topless, she still caught his attention, as her top didn't leave much to the imagination. His eyes were stuck on her for a few seconds. Quickly realizing that he was staring, his face went red and he turned away quickly and walked into his forge.

Cecily walked down form the porch to where Aria was standing and where Luke had left them.

"Did you see that?" asked Aria, with a smile going ear to ear.

"See what Aria?" Cecily tilted her head

"Luke was checking you out just now."

"He was not." Cecily said a little too loudly, waving a hand at Aria, her face getting pink from embarrassment.

"Quiet do you want him to hear?" Aria said in a hushed tone as she heard some shuffling sounds coming from the forge.

"Well, what's he doing anyway, I thought we had a long trip ahead of us." Cecily complained, and not so long after that, Luke came walking out of the forge with a key hanging from a thing chain around his neck, and his katana attached to his side.

"Are you ready to go now, dork?" Luke said upon rejoining the other two.

"Stop calling me a dork! And is that what I think it is?" Cecily asked pointing to what was hanging from Luke's neck.

"Yep, all you have to do is take it from me and it's all yours." He smirked, walking up to Aria.

"I'll take that." He said taking the bag, with Cecily's katana sticking out of it from Aria, and strapping it to his back

"Oh, what a gentleman." Cecily said sarcastically, before she lunged at Luke trying to get the key, but he smoothly dodged it, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Ah, too slow!" Luke said with a smile as he took off running towards their destination, with Cecily's bag strapped to his back. Cecily meanwhile picked herself up off the floor and dusted off, which would be the first of many times she would be doing that.

"I'd go and catch him if I were you. I put some of your 'personal items' in there if you know what I mean." Aria suggested bumping her elbow into Cecily's side. Cecily's face went beat red after processing what Aria had said and turned around.

"I'm going to kick your ass if you don't wait up Luke!" Cecily yelled as she began running after Luke.

"Then catch me!" he shouted back at her, who was still a considerable distance away from her, despite having her luggage on his back.

* * *

><p>Aria meanwhile, had seen everything that had just happened and could only laugh at the situation her two friends have unknowingly gotten themselves into.<p>

"It should be real fun when they get back, that's for sure." She laughed away as she began to go back home.

"Ah to be human, it must be fun." She said to herself as she kept walking.

* * *

><p>Returning to Luke and Cecily, it was mid-day and they were getting close to the halfway point of their trek. Luke was moving surprisingly well after carrying Cecily's things all day. The aforementioned Cecily was trailing him by a fair distance, as she was able to keep an eye on him but she just couldn't keep up after a while. They both stopped or slowed down occasionally but Luke still moved at a faster pace than Cecily.<p>

Cecily was running after Luke, reaching the top of the first tree-covered mountain after hours of chasing him, to find that he was waiting for her.

"Took you long enough, I was here for a good minute waiting for you." Luke said sitting on a rock, still carrying Cecily's bag.

"Shut…up…jerk…" She said in between breaths. Cecily was exhausted, she never ran that much before in her life. She didn't know what Luke was planning, but it was sure different from any other type of training she had done.

"Don't tell me you're tired, we're only halfway there, we still have some moving to do." Luke said getting up and stretching himself out.

"How can…you…do this…?" Cecily asked, holding her chest, still catching her breath. Luke simply shrugged.

"Easy, I trained myself. From the looks of it you definitely built up your strength at the Guard Sanctuary, but your stamina and conditioning is another story." Cecily knew he was right. Looking back on all the training she had done, it was all to make her physically and mentally strong but little had been done to improve her athleticism. She then knew for certain what Luke's idea was behind his training.

Her breathing had just about returned to normal when Luke approached her.

"Can you continue or should we head back home?" He asked looking down on her, she knew he was testing her, so she stood up straight, looked him in the eye and said…

"Yeah…and never ask me that again!" satisfied with her answer, he turned to face the road ahead of them.

"Let's go." Was all he said before taking off again with Cecily not too far behind as they continued to make haste for their destination.

* * *

><p>The two of them finally reached their destination near sunset. After moving as fast as they could for about twenty miles, trekking over small mountains, and through forests, which to Cecily, seemed like hell. They had finally reached Luke's family house. The house itself was a villa that rested on a small summit about a quarter of the way up a mountain with a stream flowing next to it, which supplied water to the house.<p>

"Wow…Luke this is beautiful…" Cecily said regaining her breath. "This is were you went while I was away?"

"Yea, this house has been in my family since my great grandfather built it with his bare hands." Luke said, as he surveyed the area, making sure everything was in check.

"It's a lot nicer than your place back home." Said Cecily.

"Gee thanks." Luke replied with sarcasm. He led her to the front door.

"So do you have a key or something…?" Cecily tried asking before Luke jumped on the floorboard to the porch, making a loose plank of wood move, startling Cecily. He reached down and came back up with a big silver key in his hand.

"Care to do the honors?" he asked holding the house key up for Cecily to take. She paused for a second before taking it, as Luke placed the plank back into its position. Cecily slowly turned the key to her a loud click as the door creaked open afterwards.

Once inside the two young adults stood in the foyer. Cecily took a minute to take in her surroundings. There was beautifully crafted furniture in every room of the house. What else would she expect from Luke's family?

"Come on I'll give you the tour!" Luke said rather excitingly as he lead her to most parts of the house.

"You have everything here, why don't you just live up here, it's all so nice!" Cecily said after seeing nearly everything inside the house.

"Well it's too far away from Housman for me to work, besides it doesn't have indoor plumbing. See, out there, those two sheds are the outhouse and the bathhouse, don't worry the bathhouse is divided in two halves." Luke explained as he pointed to the other structures out the window. "Let me show to your room so I can put this bag down finally." He said taking her to the west wing of the house where the bedrooms were.

"I hope the rooms are as nice as the rest of the house." Cecily said smiling.

"Don't worry they are." Luke smiled right back at her and took her to one of the bedrooms.

"Okay here's where you'll be staying." Luke said as he showed Cecily one room, with the same quality furniture as the rest of the house, perhaps better. There were even some pictures displayed on the dresser. Cecily took her bag from Luke and plopped it on the full sized bed, and did the same to herself. She landed on the bed and happened to look over at the dresser, and make what she thought of as an interesting find.

"Aww, look at little Lukey." She said picking up a small portrait of a little boy. However she didn't get the reaction she was hoping for as Luke's expression saddened and he swiped the painting away from her.

"That's not me…it's my father…" he said quietly, gazing upon the portrait himself.

"Luke I'm so sorry I…" Cecily began to apologize before Luke cut her off.

"It's okay you didn't know. At least you know that good looks run in the family." He finished in a much lighter tone and even gave a small smile to Cecily, picking up the mood in the room.

"What, you're calling my family ugly?" she asked, hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised, however, she was going along with the joke.

"No just you, but your mom on the other hand…" Cecily jabbed his shoulder.

"Luuke!" her voice went up a few pitches, before she started laughing while Luke smiled at her.

"Whatever, I'm going to go wash off, then I'm heading to the village to get food." The blacksmith explained his plans for the rest of the day as he walked over to his room but felt Cecily grab his arm.

"What village Luke?" he turned to see her curious face, the furrowed brow, the big ruby eyes, and the pouting lips were almost too much for him so he turned away and shook Cecily off.

"You didn't see it? It's a small village east of here but it's down the mountain, you can come with me later if you'd like." He asked, continuing to walk towards his room, and hiding his face, which was red as Cecily's hair.

"Um…sure yeah, I kind don't want to be here alone anyways." She said with a nervous chuckle at the end.

"Don't worry there's nothing here except the usual wolves." Luke jokingly, seeing how Cecily would react.

"Wolves…? Okay now you're messing with me!"

"Yep." He briskly said before shutting the door to his room, as Cecily simply rolled her eyes and went back into her room.

_Why do you acting so weird around her whenever she gets close!_ Luke screamed at himself, while he was sifting through his closet to find his robe, which was long enough to reach his ankles. He stripped down put it on and walked out of his room. As he was making his way down the hall Cecily popped out of her room in similar attire, only her robe ended a little above her knees and was a light yellow instead of navy like his.

"…Hi." Was all either of them could say after seeing each other knowing only a robe covered each other's naked bodies, and getting red in the face as a result.

"Um, I'll show you where the bathhouse is, come on." Luke said nervously as he led Cecily back outside, behind the house. Cecily looked off into the distance and saw the sunset as it's light touched nearly everything in the area, seeing the harmony in the nature around them.

"It's so beautiful here," she whispered still catching Luke's attention.

"You say something?"

"Huh, oh no, it's nothing."

"Well the ladies side is on the left; enjoy." Luke pointed her in the right direction and went into the back of the bathhouse. The bathhouse was mainly a large tub with a wall separating it in half and was heated by an oven underneath it, which Luke was currently heating up. The water came from the stream adjacent to the house, which was irrigated through underground pipes and drained through the same way. Luke managed to get the oven going and eventually the water heated up.

"Okay it's good Luke!" Cecily called out assuring him the water reached an appropriate temperature. She took off her robe and stepped in the water leaning against the wall dividing the tub. Cecily felt relaxed almost instantly as all of the soreness and aches she had from running all day had been put at ease. She soon heard a door open and a splash on the opposite side of the house as Luke had entered and assumed the same position as she had.

There were a few minutes of silence as both Luke and Cecily enjoyed in the relieving sensation the water had. It would have stayed that way but then…

"Hey, Luke…?" Cecily said to see if he could still hear her on the opposite side of the wall.

"…Yeah…" was the response she got, confirming her assumption she continued.

"I wanna know, why do all this for me? Taking me up here instead of staying home to teach me how to use a katana, I just want to know why Luke?" hearing that it finally occurred to Luke.

_Oh crap, it's just me and her up here, crap, crap, crap! Stay calm, it doesn't have to be like that, but… _Luke thought.

Clearly he hadn't thought that part of this training through.

"Well…this is where my grandfather, father, and I learned swordsmanship, so I thought it would be right to teach someone else up here." Which was his real reason for choosing this spot to train Cecily.

"Oh, I guess it's the same as me deciding to go to the Guard Sanctuary back then." Cecily replied, as Luke's reasoning was very similar to hers.

"So what did you do up here last time, and more so, why did you come here after I left?" she asked. It was a very good question, as Luke couldn't answer it right away, he needed to think it through and look inside himself.

"Luke…?" she said, as it was about a minute since she asked him the question. She heard Luke sigh and then he spoke.

"I came up here last time to gain some perspective on things." He started to explain.

"Things like what?" asked Cecily.

"Everything really, and after a couple of weeks…" he cut himself off as he was about to say something that could change the course of the time he and Cecily would have up here.

"After a couple of weeks…what?" Cecily said, waiting for him to continue, and with a deep breath he said it.

"After a couple of weeks I realized…something important. If you want to be the one to protect everybody else, I want to be the one to protect you." Those words of his made Cecily's heart stop.

"…What…?" she said quietly. What was that just now? She honestly didn't expect such selflessness from Luke at all. What made it even more shocking, was that it was about her.

"You don't have to Luke, trust me I'm far better than when I…" she began before she was cut off by Luke.

"Didn't you just hear me, I _want_ to do this! When Lisa and my father died all I could do was sit there like a helpless child and I ran away! I care about you Cecily and I'm afraid to lose you too!" another silence hit the room for what was only about a minute or two, but seemed like forever until Cecily spoke again.

"…I understand, thank you Luke." Was all she said before she got up from the tub, grabbed her robe, and left the bathhouse to return to her room.

"No…thank _you_ Cecily." He muttered after she left and dipped his head in the water.

Several minutes later, Cecily sat on her bed and thought about what Luke said not so long ago. She figured after seeing Lisa Oakwood and his father die, Luke wanted to be sure he would never go through that hell again. Given her own desires, Cecily now knew Luke would support her so she could support everyone else, but that's when it hit her.

Even if Cecily does fulfill her dream of being the best knight of her time and is able to protect everyone and be the light in the darkness as she has claimed in the past, Luke would always be better than her. No matter how hard she trained, how much she gave of herself; _he_ would always work harder, give more, even if she used Aria, it wouldn't be enough to surpass him. For if he were to protect her, Luke _had_ to be better than she was, always.

And it was that fear he described, that pain he experienced which would drive him to do whatever it takes to help those he cares about, and the only thing Cecily could think of doing was embracing it, and to work as hard as she could, in order to hold up her end of the deal.

Then there was a knock on her door. She got up to open and saw Luke standing before her in his robe, his hair messier than ever and still dripping wet.

"Look, about what I said back there…" said Luke, before he was cut off by Cecily.

"Don't worry, I'm glad you said it Luke." She said softly with a gentle smile on her face, catching Luke off guard.

"Huh?" he looked down at her a little perplexed. Cecily kept her smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I never knew you felt that way…it was nice to hear you open up like that."

"Well I, uh, I'm going to go into town, do you still wanna come?"

"I would but, I can't feel my legs right now." She explained laughing slightly at her situation.

"It's alright, just rest. You're gonna need it for what I have in store for tomorrow."

"Eh?"

"I'll let you think about that, see you tomorrow then." Luke said before turning to leave, but before he started walking he felt her grab his arm. He turned to see her lean in getting ever so close to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight…" she almost whispered to him, as she was blushing slightly.

"Uh…goodnight, Cecily…" he said trying his best to hide his blushing, turning quickly to go to his room, making it very similar to earlier.

Luke got dressed and headed out to stock the house up and that was all that would happen for the rest of the day.

* * *

><p>The next morning Cecily woke up before sunrise as she normally did, thinking she was the first one up. She walked into the kitchen to get started on breakfast so that it would be ready by the time Luke woke up, but when she got there she found there was food already there. In fact a plate was already set up for her. Luke had already eaten, but where was he.<p>

Soon after, Cecily began hearing someone shouting outside in brief stints, and knew it could only be one person. She walked out and saw Luke already in his training clothes swinging a weird looking katana.

"Hey Luke, what are you doing?" She called out to him.

"Ah, look who's up, took you long enough."

"It's around 6:30 Luke." She pointed out to him; the sun still hadn't risen yet.

"Whatever get ready we have a lot to do today." He said still doing whatever routine he was performing.

"What _are_ we doing today Luke?" Cecily eagerly asked, excited to see what was waiting for her.

"Well, Cecily, you remember all the times I complemented you, and instead of politely thanking me, you hit me in the face, stomach, and places where the sun don't shine, back and front?" He asked with some underlying agitation, making Cecily recall every moment where Luke seen her in her more 'feminine' moments and how she reacted and, needless to say, it wasn't pleasant for Luke.

"Um…yeah…" she answered nervously. She could tell what was coming next.

"Payback time!" he said standing in front of her, holding his sword across his shoulders, with an evil smirk on his face, as she gulped, now too afraid to get started.

* * *

><p>Up next, training is the name of the game for both Cecily and Luke and not just in swordsmanship.<p>

READ AND REVIEW


	5. Part 4: Progress

Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Humor

Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.

Rating: T for now at least

* * *

><p>Part 4: Progress.<p>

A week had passed by and Luke's training program was well underway. Everyday Cecily had to run, do push-ups, sit-ups, and all other 'ups', as well as getting her daily beating from Luke and needless to say, she was getting very used to it. Luke was a nice guy and all, but when it came to training he was the strictest person Cecily has ever met.

Cling clang cling cling clang*

Was all that could be heard as Luke and Cecily were currently dueling so that Cecily could get used to the feel of a katana, but things were going as they usually do, as that is not good for the lady knight.

"C'mon, you call that a block!" WHACK! Luke shouted hitting Cecily knocking her back a few steps.

"Luke, do we have to use these weighted swords, they're so heavy!" Cecily complained upon recovering. For the training Luke had Cecily and himself use heavy lead, dull swords he made prior to them coming to his family's estate to train.

"Yeah, we do! If you can wield these swords easily, it'll be that much easier when…I mean if you finally wield a real katana." He explained, taking a stance, ready for whatever Cecily would come at him with.

"IF! IF!" Shouted Cecily, as she rushed towards Luke, holding her sword up over her head.

"You shouldn't rush in like that!" Luke said back as he turned quickly around her to dodge her assault and by instinct, whipped his sword around his body and hit her hard!

"Ahh!" Cecily squealed, falling to the ground and holding her left knee. Realizing what he had done Luke dropped his sword and rushed over to her side.

"Ah, ow my knee!" Cecily whined feebly. Luke pulled up her shorts to reveal her bruised knee.

"Oh my God, Cecily! I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking and…" Luke said frantically, trying to apologize.

"It's alright Luke, you warned me and…I didn't listen." She said while wincing in pain, trying to hold back the pain. She drove her sword into the ground and tried to get up.

"Cecily don't get up, you don't know how bad your knee is!" Luke shouted at her, but he should have known that Cecily is too stubborn for her own good. Cecily was about halfway to standing up but the pain in her knee was too much as she fell again.

"At least let me help you up!" Luke said holding his hands out for her to take.

"No, I need to do this on my own!" Cecily grunted back at him, trying to get up again but only to fall just as before.

"Okay that's it!" said the blacksmith as he picked Cecily up and walked in the house, placing her down on her bed.

"What'd you do that for, I could've gotten up on my own!" complained Cecily.

"No you couldn't, and you probably made your injury worse. Now let me see your leg so I can see what's wrong." Luke protested kneeling next to her bed. Cecily tried to reach down to pull her shorts leg up but her knee wouldn't let her as she winced in pain, so Luke did it for her.

"Okay now tell me when it hurts." He said lightly placing his hands on her bruised knee. Cecily didn't respond so he continued.

"Does this hurt?" he asked applying a little more pressure.

"Not really."

"How about this?" this time Luke moved his hands to a different spot.

"No."

"Okay, this?" Luke asked again applying more pressure to the new spot.

"OWWWW! YES IT HURTS!" Cecily screamed in pain

"Okay it seems that your knee is only bruised, I have something that can help, just wait." Luke said leaving her alone in her room. Cecily sat on her bed, trying to figure out what had just taken place.

_What just happened? One second I was running towards him and now I'm in bed with a banged up leg. The thing is, when he hit me, I could barely see him move. Is Luke that much more skilled, or am I still getting used to this training? And he ran to me almost as soon as I hit the ground. Come to think of it I don't really remember seeing Luke that worried about me._

A minute or two later Luke came back in the room with a tiny jar in his hand.

"Luke what is that?" Cecily asked nervously, hoping that it wasn't anything to make her knee flare up in pain.

"Relax it's just a balm that will heal your bruise up quick, since I don't have any tamahagane up here for a prayer contract." Luke explained as he knelt down at her side again.

"Let me see your knee." He said taking the lid off the jar and spreading the balm over his hands.

"Now just to warn you, this might be a little…"

"Cold!" she shrieked when Luke touched her knee. The balm was cool to the touch.

"Relax, it's cold at first, but it'll heat up after a couple of minutes." Said Luke as he turned back to his objective and grew a little red in the face and took a bug gulp.

"Something wrong?" Cecily asked again, noticing Luke's hesitance.

"N-no, nothing's wrong j-just relax and let me do this." He recovered quickly, and tried to only focus on applying the balm, but he couldn't. Her toned legs were driving him crazy, even if one had a black and blue knee, but somehow, Luke was pulling through.

Cecily meanwhile, was wincing in pain with each stroke Luke made over her injured knee, and without thinking let out a soft moan, causing Luke to stop dead in his tracks. Cecily realized what she had done and covered her mouth in shock, as her and Luke's faces both went red.

"Um…I think I'm done here…I'm gonna go…j-just lay off your leg for the rest of the day…" Luke said shaking. He may normally be cool and collected, but given the current situation, he as well as she, was a nervous wreck.

"…Okay thanks…" was all Cecily could say before Luke left the room, and as soon as the door shut she pulled the sheets over her head.

_Way to go Cecily! _She yelled at herself, her face still beat red. Luke meanwhile was leaning against her door.

"Okay I'm going to poor cold water over myself now." He whispered before going outside to do as he said.

* * *

><p>A few hours later there was a knock at Cecily's door, but she couldn't get up due to her knee.<p>

"Come in!" she called out. She obviously knew who it was, but a strange sense of nervousness came over her. But who could blame her after what happened earlier.

Luke walked in, still in his training gear, approached the side of her bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked in an unusually soft tone. She looked up at him and said

"A-a lot _better_ than before, _that balm_ you used really helped, but it smells _kinda_ funny." She said in a weird way that she uses when she's nervous, being unable to control the pitch of her voice. (Italicized words are in higher pitch.)

"Well I-I want to apologize again, I…" he began until he was cut off by Cecily.

"Didn't you here me earlier, you don't have to apologize, it was my fault. And look I can move it now." She explained, as she bent her left leg.

"Even so." He said, as a look of deep concern crossed his face.

"Yeah but we were training, that sort of thing is bound to happen." Cecily said now surprisingly relaxed and even smiled slightly.

"I know but still…" Luke said looking down.

"Hey relax, I feel great now compared to earlier." Cecily said cheerfully. Luke looked up to see her smiling face and his expression lightened immediately.

"Heh, whatever, I'm going to make dinner, anything you want in particular?" he asked with a soft smile gracing his face.

"Um, no I don't think so." She replied cheerfully.

"Alright, just don't put any stress on your leg, I wanna get back to kickin' your ass as soon as possible." He said smirking as he left the room. He shut the door behind him, and as soon as he did he heard Cecily shout back

"In your dreams Luke!" he smiled again and went into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Some time later there was another knock at Cecily's door, and before she could answer Luke backed into her room holding a big tray of food.<p>

"Geez Luke, I don't think I could eat all that!" she said, hands out waving the tray away.

"Calm down dork, half of it's for me." He said placing the tray next to Cecily and sat himself on the other side of the bed.

"Eh?" was all Cecily could say, after seeing Luke sit next to her…on her bed.

"Well it's no good eating alone right?" he asked, handing her a fork, knife and a napkin.

"I guess you're right…" she said taking everything from him and looked down at what Luke had made. A decent sized steak, mixed vegetables and some mashed potatoes were what was for dinner, and it looked pretty good.

"I know I'm right, now let's eat I'm hungry." Said Luke as he cut the steak in two and began chowing down on his half.

"It looks like you went through a lot of trouble for this." Cecily said taking her portions. Luke looked up at her with a mouth full of food.

"…nah if waf eaffy…" (Nah, it was easy.) He said with a food stuffed mouth. As he spoke some food fell from his mouth and on to the tray.

"Hey, didn't anyone teach you not to speak with your mouth full!" Cecily said hitting the tray a little harder than she expected, causing some of the mash potatoes to land on her nose. Luke saw that and began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him as he continued to laugh. Cecily stopped for a second because…that was probably the first time she heard Luke's laugh and saw his full smile.

"Your fa-ace…!" Luke said through his laughter and pointed at her nose. Cecily put her hand to her face to discover the food on her nose and scrambled for her napkin to wipe it off.

"You know Luke…" she started as she finished cleaning her face.

"I think that was the first time I saw you smile like that." She said as Luke's laughter died out. He looked over at her with the same smile as she talked about.

"Well what can I say…you bring it out of me." His words made Cecily forget how to breathe for a couple of seconds. She looked at him, as her face became a light shade of pink, as he looked back with a smaller smile than before. There was only one thing Cecily could say in response to his flattery.

"Um, do you have anything to drink…?" she asked nervously. Luke looked around and realized he hadn't brought drinks with him.

"Oh I forgot, give me a minute I'll be back." He said leaving the room. Cecily on the other hand remained in her spot and dug her face in her hands.

"That's what you say you idiot, 'anything to drink', I'm such an idiot!" she whispered harshly to herself. She fell back and lied there looking up at the ceiling, cursing herself.

Before long, Luke had returned with a voluptuously shaped bottle, and a couple of glasses in his hands.

"Well, I need to filter the water from the stream, so the only thing I have is this." Luke said holding up the bottle, hopping back on the bed.

"I found this in one of the cabinets, guess its been here a while." He explained trying to take the lid off the bottle.

"What is it anyway?" asked Cecily, as Luke finally pulled the lid off.

"Uh, wine, why you ever have it before?" he asked as he handed the bottle to her as he picked up the glasses.

"No I haven't, is it strong?" Cecily asked pouring the rum evenly into each of the glasses.

"Well see for yourself." Luke said placing the glasses on the tray. Cecily placed her nose over the bottle and took a quick whiff of the alcohol.

"Huh, that's not so bad." she said, handing the bottle over to Luke who put it on the nightstand adjacent to the bed.

"Well, it's different than beer, and a bit tastier too, try it." Luke held up a glass for her to take. She took it and quickly took a sip, which turned into her drinking the entire glass.

"Well…?" Luke asked, awaiting her response.

"More please!" she said holding her glass up to him.

"Easy, finish what you have first you drunk." He said taking a sip of his drink.

"Hey I'm not a drunk!" she protested, holding her glass up in Luke's face. He snatched the glass away from her.

"Oh, so that wasn't you who threw a chair at the waiter at the inn on Lisa's birthday?" he asked sarcastically, recalling the last time he had seen Cecily drunk. The lady knight tended to be an angry drunk, and the instance Luke spoke of, fortunately ended with no one getting hit by Cecily.

"Hey that guy was asking for it; but trust me I'm better than that now, so pour me more!" said Cecily.

"Geez take it easy, here." He said pouring her more drink and did the same for himself.

* * *

><p>As the night went along so did most of the alcohol, and it was having an effect on the two young adults for sure.<p>

"H-Hey, letsssss get out this room. I'vvve been stuck herrre allllll day!" Cecily drunkenly shouted out.

"Okay, but what about your leg (hiccup)?" he asked, clearly in a better condition than she was in, as he stumbled off the bed.

"I'm fine don't worry!" she shouted again as she attempted to hop off the bed herself, but only to stumble from her inebriated state after standing for a couple of seconds. Luke walked over to her slowly.

"Cecily you're drunk." He said holding his hand out for her to take. She batted it away and stood up.

"I'm not…d-drunk, you are mmmmmisterr…!" she said poking him in the chest before stumbling again, but this time Luke was there to catch her.

"Whatever, I didn't realize how strong (hiccup) that stuff was…" he said placing her arm over his shoulders as they walked out the room together.

"Hey, where are we going?" Cecily shouted as she hobbled along.

"I don't know, this was your idea anyways." Luke protested as they made their way down the hallway.

They continued to walk until Luke decided where to go. The den would be their destination, since it was the most comfortable room, complete with the fireplace and handcrafted armchair's facing it.

Luke lifted Cecily's arm off him and placed her on one of the chair's but before he could stand straight up he felt Cecily's hand grab him and pull him down with her.

"Whoopsie." Giggled Cecily as the two were now squished together in the chair. Luke squirmed around trying to get up.

"Cecily let me go…" Luke grumbled as he broke his arms free, but his freedom would be short lived as Cecily wrapped her arms around him.

"Noooo stay!" She protested. Luke pulled her off him and turned to her.

"I-I wanna go (Hiccup) on that chair…" he said pointing to the armchair opposite the one they were in at the moment.

"Please…" Cecily quietly pleaded as she hugged him and rested her head against his back. Luke felt how warm she was; it felt comfortable, and since she was already trying her best to keep him there he decided to just listen to her and stopped his struggle and relaxed himself.

"Fine…" He huffed as he sat back in the chair, Cecily adjusting herself next to him.

"H-heyyy Luke…?" She asked with her head now on his shoulder. What could she want now? In her inebriated state she could've said anything but Cecily seemed to have showed some self-control.

"Yeah…?" He asked as they sat by the fire that Luke had started much earlier and was beginning to burn out.

"Am I good?" she asked. Luke raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards hers.

"What?"

"Sword fighter, am I good?" She asked again. Cecily's grammar still appeared to be under the influence.

"What kind of question is that?" he answered with another question. Cecily winced a little and gripped his arm a little tighter.

"Luke." She wined quietly as she normally did when someone bugged her, making Luke crack a small smile.

"Of course you are, for a girl I mean." He joked and could feel her body shudder with subtle laughter. Cecily slightly picked her head up and turned to him.

"Gee thanks Luke."

"Anytime…" He began to sarcastically accept her sarcastic gratitude when their eyes met. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the mountain air, and maybe it was something lying underneath it all but something made them draw close to each other.

"Cecily…" he almost whispered to her as she was inches away from him still looking into each other's eyes, or eye in Luke's situation, but it didn't matter to her.

"Hmm…" She mumbled as she smiled. Luke began to draw even closer to her but Cecily's eyes began to close and she fell lightly on top of him drifting asleep. Luke smiled again and put his arms around her, his hand gently rubbing her back.

"I'll tell you later." He whispered again before he carefully lifted her up and placed her on the couch on the other side of the room. Maneuvering through the halls back to her room would be too much to do without waking her up, and that was something Luke didn't want to do. She looked so peaceful and serene, even if she was a dork. He placed her on the couch and grabbed a blanket from underneath and placed it on her. Cecily must've sensed it as she stirred and moved around until she was in a sort of fetal position.

Looking down at her, Luke couldn't hide another smile but covered his mouth anyway, in order to muffle the light laughter. Once he was done chuckling Luke looked down at her again. Another smile crossed his face as he leaned down towards her.

"Goodnight." He whispered before lightly kissing her on the cheek and heading off to his room for the night.

* * *

><p>The next morning…<p>

Luke awoke in his bed way before sun rise. He didn't do his daily routine however. He stood in his bed, looking up at the ceiling, very unable to cease his thinking about last night's events. He had had her in his arms, so close to her yet still at a distance. But he thought of other factors mentioned earlier and how they may have influenced her actions. Luke didn't know why he was thinking these things but he was. He stood there for what felt like a good hour or so before he finally decided enough was enough and he got up.

As he walked down the hall he passed Cecily's room. Something made him peer through the door even though he knew she wasn't in there after what happened the night before. He looked around and noticed how she kept her room. Clothes all over, it looked like a mess already, but something about just seemed so…Cecily; it was something Luke knew she would do and he felt a sense of admiration from it. He shook his head before continuing down the hallway.

When he approached the kitchen he began to smell something, something like food cooking. Did it finally happen? Cecily woke up before he did; but then again he did take a while to actually get up. He turned the corner and sure enough he found Cecily cooking, or trying to at least.

"Good morning!" she greeted him cheerfully as he slowly walked inside.

"Hey…" he managed to say as he looked around; looking for anything broken or splattered but to his surprise he found nothing of the sort.

"I slept great last night, that couch inside is surprisingly comfortable." She said as he continued to look around the kitchen. She saw what he was doing and put her hands on her hips.

"Relax will you? I _can_ cook you know." She assured him before turning back to the stove as she finished preparing their meal.

"You sure you don't want me to help?" He asked, walking up behind her. Feeling his presence she shot back around.

"I'm sure now sit down and wait." She requested of him, and begrudgingly, Luke did as she said. Cecily came over in about a minute and placed the food on his plate. It actually looked good!

"All right eat up. Consider it a thank you for helping me yesterday." Cecily said as she turned back around and prepared her own meal. Luke picked up a fork and dug in. He put the food in his mouth but after a few chews; Luke learned the lesson of not judging a book by its cover…the hard way. It tasted terrible but Luke did his best to somehow swallow. Cooking was yet another thing Cecily just couldn't do that was considered lady like. She came back to the table and began eating her off her own plate.

"It's good right?" she asked him with a smile.

"Sure…!" He said with a straight face as she kept her smile before continuing to eat.

_I think I'll just take care of the cooking from now on…_ he thought to himself as he watched her eat. How she was eating that stuff baffled him, but Luke just sat there and smiled.

* * *

><p>finally! it's been a long time i know' I've just been busy and I sort of forgot to do this. Anyways tell me what you think and hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as this one did.<p> 


	6. Part 5: Master's Calling 1

Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith

Genre: Romance, Drama, Adventure and Humor

Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.

Rating: T for now at least

* * *

><p>Part 5: Master's Calling 1<p>

* * *

><p>Later that morning…<p>

"_Why _are you following me?" Luke asked as he walked down a forest trail bordered by tall trees where birds chirped all morning long. The one he spoke to, the person following him was his pupil, his houseguest, Cecily.

"I told you to stay behind." Luke continued dryly as she caught up to him from behind.

"Well I got tired of being stuck around that house and wanted some fresh air; is that so wrong?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him. Luke looked straight ahead and sighed.

"And another thing, why did you decide to skip practice today, I thought I had a lot of work to do since I missed out on most of yesterday." She crossed her arms, inquiring further. Luke remained quiet and kept walking. That wasn't going to fly with Cecily anymore, so she huffed and jogged until she caught up with him.

"Well Luke…?" She asked impatiently, poking her face into Luke's field of vision to try and get him to answer the best she could. It worked as Luke took a breath and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"I just decided to give you a break after this morning." He said. Cecily stopped in her tracks to think.

* * *

><p>Earlier…<p>

"You really think so?" Luke asked dryly, raising a curious eyebrow at his challenger who sat across from him by the kitchen table as she smirked in confidence.

"Yeah, I do as a matter of fact. Have an arm wrestling match with me right now…unless you're chicken." She antagonized him, pushing the right button as Luke's gaze shot up from his plate and at her. Putting her arms at her sides and flapping them like wings and making clucking noises, Cecily taunted Luke further until she got what she wanted out of him. Luke pushed his plate aside and held out his right hand in the middle of the table.

"Alright come on then, tough guy!" He said. No one calls Luke Ainsworth a chicken and gets away with it…NO ONE!

"Guy?! You called me a guy?!" She shouted back, getting angry and red in the face. Now Luke was getting to her and he was smirking. "Oh it is SO on!" She hollered, rolling up her sleeve as she assumed the same position as he and joined hands with Luke. Cecily felt how rough the blacksmith's hand really was. It made hers feel graceful and delicate when she knew she wasn't those things normally (as usually brought up by her mother). Cecily braced herself for the imminent struggle.

"Ready?!" She barked out, as she felt his grip on her hand tighten before she returned the favor, but unable to do so fully; that should've been her first clue…

"Whenever you are..." He smirked again. She grunted and counted down.

Three, two, one and they were off and running. Luke had to admit it, although he never would do so aloud, Cecily was really strong. Even for a girl she had rather impressive power, he thought. The muscles in her arm swelled to a considerable size from the stress it was going through. All of her training was really paying off. However as strong as she was, Cecily didn't have enough, not being able to make Luke's arm budge more than an inch. Deciding that he'd seen enough, Luke tightened his grip on Cecily's hand and smacked it down hard on the table.

Resuming play of the part of antagonist Luke smirked and crossed his arms as he turned in his seat, away from the table. "So much for that; oh well, not like I was expecting much." He shrugged before getting up and picking the dishes off the table while Cecily massaged her wrist.

"Oh shut up!" She pouted. Luke meanwhile, placed the dishes on the adjoining counter with his back to Cecily before quickly rubbing his strained forearm.

…

* * *

><p>"Whatever Luke; where are we going anyway, we've been walking forever already." Cecily shook her head to try and forget her most recent defeat before walking faster to catch up with Luke.<p>

"…Just don't worry about it. Where we're going has nothing to do with you; I don't even know why you came." He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking straight ahead, paying Cecily no attention.

"I just told you why, now come on tell me where!" Cecily raised her voice, getting impatient. What a short fuse the lady knight had.

"…" Luke sighed again. Cecily could sense the stress that it carried and guessed it was directed at her. She clenched her fists, progressively growing more annoyed but stopped herself and took a breath.

"Oh real mature Luke, that cold shoulder of yours isn't going to get rid of me, not one…" Cecily folded her arms and held her nose up all snooty like, trying to appear as the 'adult'.

"We're here." She heard him say quietly and stopped walking behind him. Their destination was, in a word…a dump. A small shanty sat under a couple of oak trees covered in their shade while basking in the babbling of the adjoining brook. It looked tranquil, Cecily had to admit, but that didn't mean it was a place she'd call home, not at all.

Cecily stepped next to Luke as she turned around and surveyed the clearing that surrounded this small house with flowers planted in every suitable spot. Nothing out of the ordinary, so why was it so important that Luke trek all the way out here in the morning?

'Why did I tag along?' She thought as she took another look around. Luke took a deep breath and stepped forward towards the house. Whatever the reason was for going there, it certainly had to do with whoever was in that house.

Luke approached the front door as Cecily followed while looking around for anything suspicious. The front door that Luke didn't even knock on swung open and hit the wall behind its swing before the two teens stepped through. The house had some unique flowers growing by the window sills as Cecily observed. Luke looked around for a minute. Dissatisfied with something he huffed before storming back outside and venturing behind the house and by the brook.

Cecily scurried behind him to keep close quarter with him in case anything unusual was to happen, the law enforcer she was.

"Luke, what are you…" Cecily began to ask a question until she saw Luke leap towards her.

"GET DOWN!" She heard Luke yell before he quickly reached a hand out and flung her down to the ground by the sleeve of her shirt. When she landed, Cecily heard metal clang. She jumped back up, ready to fight but the struggle Luke had with the stranger ended as fast as it began. The stranger jumped back and when he stood he spoke.

"Well, well, well look what we have here. What's up Ainsworth, I thought I kicked you ass six ways to Sunday already. Back for more I assume." The man snickered with a voice more arrogant than any other Cecily had heard. He stood rather tall, a little over six feet, pretty young, probably in his thirties, shoulder length dark red hair and a trimmed beard and rather built. This man wore a brown cloak that covered the green shirt with white sleeves and dark pants that hung over a pair of boots. Cecily couldn't help but notice that this guy was nice to look at as well.

"L-Luke, who is this guy…?" Cecily asked, not really sure of what was going on. Luke, who relaxed his fighting stance, stood upright and sheathed his sword.

"Cecily this is…" Luke started to say but the stranger butted in.

"Michael Lancaster, swordsman extraordinaire. Now please tell me how my stupid apprentice managed to bag a total babe like you." The man introduced himself, taking Cecily's hand and bowing all gentlemanly.

"Apprentice…?" She blinked. "Wait, babe…?!" Cecily shook her head as her face grew red in embarrassment before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Allow me to explain sweetness; you see your boyfriend here didn't know his way around a paper bag, let alone a sword, so I had to show him the ropes. Now why don't you dump this chump and let's go out on the town." Michael said while his arm found its way around Cecily's shoulder as the confused knight blinked at him.

"Uh, Luke a little help here…!" She whined through an awkward smile as her face grew a deeper shade of red.

"Michael is the one who taught me how to fight." Luke rubbed his eyebrows, almost a little embarrassed to be associated with the man.

"But…But I thought you taught yourself?" Cecily asked as she pushed Michael's arm off and walked towards Luke.

"Ha, he wishes!" Michael snorted from the distance.

"Grr…! Whatever; alright let me explain. A long time ago, when my great grandfather first began as a blacksmith a feud in the nearby town was well underway. The feud was about politics, whether or not the town should be an annex of The Empire. It wasn't going well for either side as people were dying left and right, a bloodbath really." He began to say. Cecily leaned in with interest while Michael was already lying down on the ground picking his teeth with a stray weed he found in the ground.

"Having learned from his master, my great grandfather was able to forge katanas to near perfection; the only thing was, was that my great grandfather had his foot amputated from an illness during his childhood and was unable to use the swords himself." Luke continued as he and Cecily sat on the ground across from each other.

Cecily opened her mouth to ask something but she heard another voice interrupt her.

"So he found someone to use them for him." Michael butted in; still holding the piece of weed in is teeth. Luke sighed in annoyance before continuing.

"Right…as Michael said my great grandfather looked for someone to use the weapons he created in battle. However, not just anyone would be allowed to use them; the person he chose had to be just of heart so the power the katana wielded wouldn't fall into the wrong hands." Luke said. Cecily heard Michael rise from his spot on the ground and approach her and Luke who still remained seated.

"And soon enough old man Ainsworth finally found the right guy, my great grandfather Lance Lancaster." Michael added but Luke didn't look too appreciative as he glared at him.

"Sorry, please continue." Michael rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, letting Luke continue.

"Lance Lancaster, a knight in his own right was finally chosen to wield the katanas my great grandfather, Alfred created. The two collaborated so Lance would learn the techniques of a katana faster and it paid off. With the help of each other, out great grandfathers were able to aid in fending off the Imperialists and our families have been tied together ever since." Luke finally finished his story. Cecily leaned back on her outstretched arms and crossed her legs.

"That's some story, but just so I get this straight; your family has been making the swords and Michael's family has been using them." Cecily inquired. Luke nodded before getting up off the ground with the lady knight.

"That's right babe, and that's not all. You still owe me for helping you clean that dump you call a house, chump!" Michael pointed at Luke who grew very annoyed. Cecily stood back and let the sparks fly; after all it's unusual to see Luke get riled up like he was.

"Just can it will you!"

"What happened, you got yourself a girl and you get a pair Ainsworth?"

"He/she's not my…ugh!" Luke and Cecily both shot back in unison which amused Michael briefly but he soon grew serious.

"Well whatever you came for kid, you can forget it. You walked out in the middle of your training twice on me, don't think I'm gonna let that slide! Now go into town and grab me some beers will ya?" Michael told Luke off before turning to walk inside the little shanty of a house with the door closing behind him.

Luke turned away from where Michael was standing, fists clenched, gritted teeth, anger clearly in his expression. Despite all the stress Luke simply sighed and looked up before starting to walk away. Cecily watched everything from a short distance away but felt she had to approach Luke now.

"Luke, you're not seriously going to do what he said are you?" She asked with a hand placed on his shoulder. Luke looked her in the eyes as he lifted her hand off him.

"Go back to the house." He said quietly before walking away from her. Cecily couldn't believe what she was seeing, she wouldn't accept it. She looked up from the ground.

"Luke!" She shouted but saw no trace of him, only kicked up leaves slowly falling to the ground. She looked around; thinking about what just happened then it hit her.

* * *

><p>"You're a jerk, you know that!" Cecily yelled as she slammed the front door to Michael's house open. She found him in the middle of potting a plant and unfazed by her sudden action. Without looking up from his current task, Michael answered her.<p>

"Wow you sound like my ex-wife." Michael huffed as he stopped what he was doing and leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.

"Well…wait you were married?" Cecily did a double take.

"Once upon a time I was. Now, if you're gonna try and stand up for that jackass, don't bother." He continued as he put his feet on the table.

"And why shouldn't I?! As long as I've known him, Luke's always done the right thing, and I know how good of a swordsman he is and…" Cecily defended her current teacher and friend but Michael didn't seem to care.

"You're in a knight guild right?" He asked randomly, interrupting the ranting Cecily.

"Huh?" She blinked, before she caught up to what Michael asked.

"The pendant around your neck, that means you're in a knight guild, and from the looks of it you're from the trade city." Michael explained, pointing at the light blue pendant that always hung around Cecily's neck. She usually wore it underneath whatever she was wearing but it seemed to have found its way out during the day.

"…Y-yeah, how did you know…?" She clutched the pendant in her hand.

"I come from a family of knights myself, but I'm a little curious now." Michael got up from his seat and headed for the front door.

"About what?" Cecily's curiosity rose further as she followed him outside.

"You; let's see what you got, I haven't had a good fight in a while and I want to see how a knight from the trade city fights." Michael pointed at her and telling of his intentions. Cecily instead, looked like a deer in the headlights.

"Um…but I don't have my sword…" She stuttered as she placed her hand on the spot on her waist where her sword or Aria was usually sheathed. Michael smirked, reaching at his side and pulled a second scabbard out from his waist.

"Here take this. It's a katana I hope you can handle it." He tossed her a concealed katana. Compared to what she was using during her training with Luke, this sword Cecily was just handed felt as light as a feather.

"…I'll make do." She smiled back at him; a certain air of confidence in her voice as she shuffled the sword in her hands and adjusted the band on her pants that she'd been wearing all throughout her training and stuck the scabbard at her side.

"Well it's good to hear some confidence out of my opponent; and who knows if you beat me, I just might change my mind about the jackass. And that's a big 'if'." Michael rolled his neck, cracking his knuckles to loosen up for the battle that was about to ensue. He smirked confidently as he pulled his sword from its sheath and spun in around with his hand in a windmill pattern.

"Come on, I'm waiting sweetheart." He egged Cecily on as she furrowed her brow and pulled her sword out. The sunlight danced off the polished metal and sliced through the wind as Cecily moved into a good fighting stance.

"Pretty solid stance alright, okay then here I…" Michael adjusted the sword in his hand and began to make way towards his foe as she hollered back.

"Haven't you ever heard of ladies first?!" She yelled as she braced for impact as Michael seemed to fly towards her. She almost lost sight of him entirely but the reflection of sunlight from his sword caught her eye, allowing her to react in time. Their swords clashed, Cecily had to use all of her strength to keep Michael at bay, who was only using one arm to strike with.

"If you ask me, it's common courtesy." He smirked with a wink before he jumped back from their struggle. It took Cecily a second to catch onto the dirty joke Michael made and didn't like it when she did.

"Argh! You jerk…!" She cried as she charged at him again, striking with a swing across her body and twist of her hips. Both hands holding on tightly to the sword, Cecily tried her best to push back her opponent.

"Heh, you fight just like him." Michael snorted before pushing Cecily back several feet with just the flick of his wrist, nearly causing the lady knight to tumble over. How strong was this guy? Cecily figured he had to be good in order to teach Luke new tricks. Michael's obvious power wasn't going to stop her though. Cecily dug her feet into the ground to regain balance and when she did she readjusted her feet.

'I've only seen this done once before but…here goes nothing.' Cecily thought as she sheathed her sword, holding her hand right above the sword's hilt. The stance caught her opponent's eye as he cracked his neck one more time and smirked.

'Yep, definitely the same as him…' His smirk grew into a full blown grin before a chuckle found its way through Michael. Instead of preparing a defense, Michael put his sword away and stood upright with his hands at his sides.

Cecily had no idea what Michael was doing but it looked very good to her. This final strike would make her the winner; especially if her opponent has no response. Cecily thought quickly about the move she was about to pull; how she remembered being awoken by the sharp noise of Luke's katana swinging through the crisp nighttime air, practicing the move. She knew it had to be good if Luke went through such lengths to practice it.

Cecily made her move, and as fast as she could she lunged towards Michael, unsheathing her sword from its scabbard as quickly as she could. Before she knew it, Cecily was at the other side of the clearing but something wasn't right. Michael was now standing where she was before she attacked, his cloak fluttering in the wind and his sword just being put away with the click of the scabbard. Then Cecily felt cold air dance along her torso; looking down she saw little cuts all over the top of her training outfit

"H-huh?! Wha…?" Cecily stammered as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to wrap her mind around what just happened.

"Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist." She heard Michael 'apologize' as he smirked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Y-y-you pervert…!" Cecily stammered, snapping her head at him, red in the face. Poor girl, she always seems to get into these situations. Michael stood up right and removed the cloak that draped along his shoulders and threw it towards the lady knight.

"Here, come inside, I think there's something you should know." He said, as he walked into his house and left the door open for Cecily who had just covered herself with the cloak. She blinked and looked around; Cecily now had a better idea of where Luke gets his…awkwardness.

Realizing that she was standing outside, covering her exposed torso with a smelly old cloak, Cecily scurried through the door and closed it behind her. Standing in Michael's house yet again, Cecily stood there, looking around. The same plants were still sitting by the windows, as she observed, but Cecily was taking a closer look around. While investigating, Cecily came across a small portrait that was framed and resting on a small table in the corner of the room.

Upon closer observation, Cecily discovered that in the frame was the portrait of a young woman that couldn't have been much older than herself. Black hair, blue eyes, fair complexion; the woman in the portrait was beautiful in every sense of the word. Cecily was about to lean in closer until something hit her.

"Here take these." Michael said as he threw some clothes at her, causing her to stumble about blindly, bumping into the small table behind her and knocking the portrait off the table in the process.

Michael lunged forward and managed to catch the picture inches away from hitting the floor.

"Careful!" Michael shouted, getting up as Cecily finally regrouped and held the clothes in her arms.

"Sorry, he-he. I'll go get changed…" She said awkwardly, tip toeing out of the room while Michael grumbled as he placed the picture back on the table. Cecily showed herself into the next room where she was getting changed. Off with the torn up clothes and in with the…blouse? Michael lived by himself, why would he have women's clothes?

"Well he did say he was married once." Cecily mumbled to herself as she slipped the blouse on. It was a bit tight in the chest area, but that was to be expected by the young knight. Once the blouse was on properly, Cecily stepped back where she left Michael and spotted him placing cups on the table.

"Alright sit down; I made some tea." He said in a more somber tone than he used normally. Whatever it was that he wanted to talk about, it was serious.

"Oh, thanks." Cecily thanked Michael quietly before taking a seat on the opposite side of the table from him.

"Um, Michael…?" Cecily asked as she stirred her tea. He looked up at her from his cup and was silent to let her continue.

"Can I ask why you have these clothes? I know you said you were married but…" Cecily asked, gesturing to the light green blouse she was wearing. Michael's expression dropped and he scratched the back of his head. Before speaking, he sighed deeply.

"Oh well, you see my marriage didn't end in divorce…it ended in death." He said, bringing a melancholy air with his words that loomed heavily in the small room.

"Oh, I…I'm so sorry to hear that." Cecily said, and she had to admit she felt a little heartbroken. Michael himself was a pretty young guy, and he and his wife must've been even younger when tragedy struck.

Sipping his tea Michael gave a hollow 'yeah' in response through gritted teeth as he placed his cup back on the table. He looked up again and nodded towards Cecily.

"There's a picture of her behind you if you want to take a look." He said, not knowing that Cecily had already seen it. But Cecily twisted in her seat and grabbed the frame and looked down. The same portrait of the blue eyed girl as before, but this time Cecily didn't feel as curious, but rather sad.

"She's beautiful…!" Cecily said as she looked on the portrait, holding it in her hands.

"Yeah, she was wasn't she?" Michael added after he took another sip of his tea while Cecily placed the picture in front of her.

"Yeah…but c-can I ask you _how_ she died?" She was almost too nervous to ask him; but she wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't know, and the question came out.

Michael looked at her, again with a saddened expression. With another heavy sigh, Michael looked down at the cup in his hands.

"I…killed her." Cecily spilt her cup over the table and froze.

* * *

><p>Ok, that's done; tell me what you think of the oc Michael and the rest of the chap!<p>

This 'part' is going to be longer maybe another chapter or two but I promise you it's really good.

Also a villain/antagonist (idk what I want he/she to be) will be introduced before this 'part' up.


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